Elvis is in the building. Here's another video from the fine folks at The Dodo. This time, it's the story of Ted and Elvis, a little boy and his dog brother. The dog Elvis teaches his baby brother to carry toys around in his mouth — and the kid Ted says the sweetest thing to him as soon as he learns to talk. And that's just the starting point.
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This is a real treat, and much thanks to the inveterate Chris Dunn for the heads-up. It’s a 20-minute interview on camera with the legendary humorist James Thurber. The 1956 conversation is with Alistair Cooke, which may possibly have been done for the Omnibus series he hosted – however, since there are standalone credits which are limited in their information and don’t identify the source, it seems like this was done for a separate purpose. The interview is interesting and a bit dry, though that doesn’t mean it’s without humor since much of Thurber’s humor is bone dry, as are many of his comments here. But about two-thirds of the way through they get into how is drawings initially got into the New Yorker, and there’s a lot of laugh out loud material there. (Besides which, it’s great hearing him talk about E.B. White and New Yorker co-founder Harold Ross. Surprisingly, most of the interview deals with Thurber’s drawing (of which he’s continually disparaging), that ultimately leads to his loss of sight. Quite a few years back, I wrote about the wonderful stage revue done in 1960 called A Thurber Carnival, which was made up of adaptations of a bunch of short stories by Thurber. As I wrote at the time, there’s a great cast album which is well-worth tracking down if you like Thurber. One of my favorite scenes from the show is also one of my favorite Thurber stories, “File and Forget,” a first-person story about a hellish time that Thurber supposedly had trying to correct with his publisher about a delivery problem of one of his books. On stage, the role of 'James Thurber' was played by Tom Ewell. Into the run, it turned out that the real Thurber was a bit of a ham, and for a month the Broadway production had James Thurber himself play himself in that one scene! There was one particular challenge: Thurber was legally blind. Because of this, he couldn’t make the entrances and exits properly. What they did was build a sort of conveyor belt with a chair on it. Thurber simply sat in the chair and it would roll on and off the stage. Now, that I would have paid really-good cash money to see. It's a shame it wasn't recorded (as far as I know). And a shame it occurred in the days before cell phones, when someone in the audience would have recorded it. Much as I’ve long wished to find footage or even just a sound recording of that event, though I suspect it’s a lost cause. In fact, this video of Thurber is the first I’ve ever seen of him. So, it’s the next best thing. A few weeks back, I posted a bunch of videos with Jo Stafford and her musician husband Paul Weston performing as the comic alter-egos Jonathan and Darlene Edwards mangling popular songs. I realized that it's only right to show what Ms. Stafford can actually do when she tries. (I did post a wonderful medley she did with Ella Fitzgerald, but I thought it would be nice to let her have the stage alone...) This is a 1958 medley of some of her her hits: “You Belong to Me,” “Make Love to Me and “Jambalaya.” It's worth noting, as well, that she had TV show in 1954, and then later in 1961 on the BBC. Every once in a while (like weekly), we read about “New Lows” (tm) in the Republican Party. That, of course, doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t go lower – of course, they will. It’s something we’ve come to accept by now. I mean, it looks like New York Republicans are going to nominate Carl Paladino to run for Congress, a man who has praised Adolf Hitler inspiring his followers, and called Hitler "the kind of leader we need today." And he was endorsed by Elise Stefanik, #3 in House GOP leadership – which is horrific enough, but even worse (and yes, that’s possible), in her endorsement she actually said that Paladino was…are you ready?...” the kind of leader we need today.” So, Republican Party “New Lows” (tm) are more like standards for the GOP new foundation than lows.
Compared to this – and what we see from Trump in the way he pretty much just breathes – what came from the Dr. Mehmet Oz campaign in Pennsylvania doesn’t really compare. (In fairness, topping praise of Hitler is a tough act, though Trump and Republicans will top it, no doubt.) But in most any other universe it would make the list. At this point, most people have seen video and read about the “crudité” fiasco by the Mehmet campaign, and the fun that the John Fetterman campaign – and much of the sensible world – have been having with it. Well, the Oz campaign finally came up with a response. And it’s a response that is akin to pouring gasoline on a raging house fire – when you’re inside the house. For reasons unknown to Man, Rachel Tripp, the senior communications advisor for Oz’s campaign, finally decided, a week after the fact, that the best way to push back was to say. "If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn't have had a major stroke and wouldn't be in the position of having to lie about it constantly." Now, in fairness, Dr. Mehmet Oz did not say that himself. It was only his senior communications advisor. And that’s about as far as “in fairness” as I’m able to stretch this. After all, this wasn’t a knee-jerk, immediate response that one instantly regrets, slaps your head with a “What was I thinking???!!” and apologizes for. This took about a week to come up with, which means the campaign thought about this and worked out what to say, and most surely Dr. Oz was involved with the decision and approved it. That’s how campaigns work. You don’t try to figure out how to respond to a national faux pas by attacking your opponent and not checking with your candidate to find out if this is how you want to go. And further, since Mehmet Oz has not repudiated the statement nor reprimanded his senior communications advisor. His campaign put out the statement, and he’s clearly okay with it. Therefore, what we can take away from what Ms. Tripp said is – The Oz campaign and Dr. Oz himself apparently believe that John Fetterman has never ever eaten a vegetable in his entire life. One can say, “Oh, that’s just hyperbole,” and in a sane world, of course it is. Though if it was hyperbolic, then the point they’re making wouldn’t make any sense. Saying, “If John Fetterman had eaten more vegetables, he wouldn’t have had a stroke,” would lose all impact of the slam, opening the door to questions like, “Well, how many vegetables has he had??” And “How many vegetables would be enough? So, at the very least, they want to you to believe he had zero vegetables in his entire life. Which is a monumentally idiotic statement, even if you don’t ask, “How in the world would you even possibly know that????” Worse, though, is that the statement suggests that not eating vegetables is the cause of Fetterman's stroke – which not only goes again all medical science, but is insulting to every person who has ever had a stroke, suggesting that if only you had eaten vegetables, you wouldn’t have had a stroke. (Because it must presume that stroke victims didn’t eat any veggies, because the “criticism” of Fetterman wasn’t that he hadn’t eaten enough vegetables, but none.) But even worse is that is that this statement comes from a campaign whose candidate is a doctor!! And is likely approved by that doctor. The problem here isn’t just that it’s a medically ignorant statement, but far more that a doctor is trying to shame a stroke victim. And toping even that is that the campaign statement, suggesting that vegetables are the prevention of strokes, shows why Dr. Oz is considered a snake oil salesman of "miracle drugs" and was even called before Congress to be question about his medical sales claims. All this aside, I believe that the big mistake Mehmet Oz's campaign made in their response is different from what most people are criticizing them for. It’s not that they said they thought John Fetterman never ate a vegetable in his life which caused his stroke – rather, I’m sure they meant to say they don't think John Fetterman has ever had a "crudité". Yes, this statement from the Oz campaign and Mehmet Oz is gob-smacking awful, on so many different levels. A statement is mocking someone who had a stroke, especially when their candidate is a doctor is just Republican crazy and cruel. But the most bizarre thing about it above all that is, by releasing any push-back statement, they actually, really, inexplicably want to continue the veggie story and keep it in the news! Ha-ha-ha! Ho-ho-ho! And a couple of tra-la-las, That's how we try to look real tough In the crumbling campaign Of Oz Randy Rainbow has a new song parody, and thanks to the set-up his song choice is spot-on perfect. In fact, it's hard not to laugh the moment you hear the musical vamp leading into it. And to his credit, he uses the joke as a good jumping off point for the direction the song takes, with fun lyrics and a good production. NBC News released a poll yesterday, and it had two numbers that leaped out to me. Both of them of positive note for Democrats. There's a caveat to all this, of course, and it's that this is just one poll. But let's dive in.
The first intriguing number was about the Enthusiasm Gap, which measures how much members of a party are excited about voting in the coming election. A few months ago, the Gap favored the Republican Party by a substantial 17 points. Today, Republicans still have the lead, but it’s been cut to just 2 points. It’s not that, with the margin of error, that is essentially tied, but more important it shows that the trend – which is always among the most critical things in a poll – is heavily favoring the Democrats. On the chart, GOP numbers were steady, but Democratic numbers were heading upwards in a fairly-steady diagonal angle. That may even out, but if not, if that trend builds on itself, since enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm, then the Enthusiasm Gap couple not only favor Democrats in 78 days but have a substantial advantage. It’s important, too, to keep in mind that voting will start earlier than 78 days, so the “enthusiasm” doesn’t have to be maintained as long. We read about how the search of Mar-a-Lago has energized Republican voters. While I’m sure that’s true, three things have to be kept in mind. The first is that I suspect most people who are most energized by Trump getting a search warrant are people who were heavy supporters of him already and planning to vote anyway. The second is that the NBC News poll was competed after the search warrant was issued, so any Enthusiasm Gap numbers for “outraged” Republicans are built into the results. And they show that Democrats have cut the gap by 15 points and are just 2 points behind. And the third thing is that the poll showed that a strong majority of registered voters support the search of Trump. A full 57% of registered voters say that the investigations of Trump should continue, while just 40% say they should stop. That’s not a divided opinion. In an election it would be nearing landslide territory. The second poll number that leaped was the even-more surprising one. That when voters were asked to rank the issues that they thought were the most important facing the country. And not only was “Threats to democracy” now on the list of concerns – but it was also the Number One issue. Yes, that means it was above “Cost of living” and “jobs and the economy.” I was amazed just to see it mentioned at all, I’m absolutely boggled that it was listed first. And listed first by a notable amount. “Threats to democracy” was named by 21% as the most important issue facing the United States today, while “Cost of living” was listed by 16%. (“Jobs and the economy” was at 14%.) I think it’s important to remember, too, that people don’t only vote on what the “most important” issue is to them, but a collection of issues. So, while “abortion” was named by only 8% of respondents as the most important issue, I have to suspect that those 8% are highly-motivated voters. The short version is that while the economy and inflation will always be highly critical issues to voters, the fact that “threats to democracy” is at the top of the radar means that the top issue that Republicans were counting on, inflation, has been taken away from them. Further, I am sure that the “threat” to democracy people are referring to is growing GOP conservative fascism. Could it mean “liberals”? Honestly, no, I don’t think so. Republicans have long railed against liberals and supposed socialism and commies – and it’s never registered on the polls at all as a threat that is most important to the country. So when the “threat to democracy” suddenly does show up on the poll (let alone as Number One), then it must be something else. And that “something else” has to stem from the growing concern over voter suppression, repealing the Constitutional right to abortion, threat of repealing the Constitutional right of same-sex marriage, threat of repealing the Constitutional right of contraceptives, threat of Republicans refusing to accept election results, not just from 2020 but in elections across the country since then, including their own primaries, the threat of Trump taking sensitive documents from the government and more. The only downside from the poll is that President Biden hasn’t seem to pick up any support from all the major Democratic bills that have passed recently. His approval stands at 42%. And this is in line with Nate Silver’s fivethirtyeight.com that has his approval rating at 41%. And since this NBC News number is steady, then as low as it is, he seems to have stopped it from dropping. (Actually, if we look at Nate Silver's weighted polls, it's even better for Biden and appears that Democratic successes are having an impact, and his approval is going up. That's because a month ago, the fivethirtyeight.com approval number was 37.5%.) To be clear, as I said at the start, for all these NBC News results, it's just one poll. And one poll of anything is borderline meaningless. But it’s certainly better for Democrats to have these results as your starting point than the other way around. And the NBC News poll has a B+ rating by fivethirtyeight.com. Yes, it’s odd that “threat to democracy” is actually seen as a good thing. But then, if there’s a spark that flares up in your home which is at threat of bursting into flames, it’s a good thing that people notice it – and are getting enthusiastic to do something about it. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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